


Chipped and Whole

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Chipped Cup, F/M, Fix-It, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 10:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9319814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: The story of the Beauty and the Beast's Chipped Cup is well known, but it's not the whole story.





	

The cup tumbled through the air and landed rim first on the flagstones. The force was enough to send a sizeable chip bouncing free. The cup was retrieved, but the chip rolled into a crack between the flagstones and was forgotten. Its journey didn’t end there, it fell deeper than the gap in the floor, it tumbled down and down through the darkness until it bounced off someone head.

Gideon rubbed his head and glanced around for whatever had struck him. The bright white porcelain shone brightly against the shades of black that made up Grandmother’s realm. He plucked it from the ground between two long fingers; it was a chip, the lost part of something that made that thing broken. He briefly considered skimming it into the lake, but instead he tucked it into his pocket.

Time is a fickle thing in the realm of the Black Fairy, it flows fast and slow, backwards and forwards, and some days doesn’t exist at all, it’s all relative. Take the chipping of a cup for example, from Rumple and Belle’s point of view the cup was broken almost four decades ago, yet the freshly broken chip only found Gideon a few hours ago. Now for the first time in hours or years the chip and the cup are in the same realm.

Rumple felt a sting of envy as Gideon hugged Belle. He had no part in their family reunion, no place in their future, but he was determined to make sure that no matter what mother and son would be together. A faint buzzing reached his ears, for a crazy second he thought it was a cell phone vibrating and patted his pocket before shaking away the ridiculous notion. He wasn’t the only one who the sound had disturbed.

“What is that noise?”

Belle opened her handbag and Gideon reached into his pocket. Rumple half expected them to pull out phones, but they each revealed fine china. A flash of hope darted across Rumple’s face, but he hid it quickly behind a mask of indifference.

“Like is calling to like,” Rumple waved an indifferent hand at his son, “Go on repair it, it will make your mother happy.”

Gideon’s head tilted to one side, “And what about you, father?”

The sneer in his voice as he spoke the familial term twisted Rumple’s heart, his discomfort didn’t show as he gave a bored shrug.

“It’s just a cup.”

Belle shot him an angry glare that softened ever so slightly as she caught something in his stance, a hint of hope. She held the cup on the flat of her palm and offered it to Gideon.

“Please Gideon.”

Rumple recognized the indulgent smile on his son’s face, he’d worn a similar one often enough around Belle. As Gideon positioned the chip into the gap in the rim of the cup Rumple edged closer to his family, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but every magical sense he possessed was screaming at him.

The chip slid back into place and nothing happened, but Rumple knew only too well that magic is never as instantaneous as those bloody Disney films make it out to be. He had time to grab the arms of his wife and son before the cup shimmered with a golden light and rose from Belle’s palm.

“Rumple! What’s happening?”

“Just hold on! Please!”

The cup rose above their heads, its rapid spinning called up a howling gale, but the fountain of golden magic that was pouring from it was unaffected. The magic drifted around the little family wrapping them in a protective shell of golden light. Outside in the gale time was bouncing back and forth replaying parts of Rumple and Belle’s life together, through the magic the three of them caught snatches of conversations past;

_Why do you spin so much?_

_You are a beautiful woman who loved an ugly man._

_Be honest, you’re happy I came back._

_I could turn you into a toad!_

_The only path I’m interested in is the one where we are together._

_I was told you’d protect me._

_Sometimes the best cup is chipped._

The three of them clung to each other as the magic became so bright they had to close their eyes against its light. The cup was nothing but a blur which suddenly winked away taking the magic and family with it.

 

Rumple staggered as he burst through the door in the hospital. His head felt thick and confused, but that all melted away at the sight of his sweating, panting wife on the bed.

“Rumple! Get over here!”

He rushed to her careful not to bump into Whale.

“Are you all right, sweetheart?”

He winced as Belle grabbed a handful of his hair and screamed through a contraction.

“Do I look all right?”

From between her legs Whale calmly said; “You’re doing wonderfully Belle, one more push.”

Belle sobbed on Rumple’s shoulder.

“Fireball him, please Rumple, he’s being so bloody cheerful.”

Rumple squeezed her hand, “Once the baby is here, sweetheart.”

Any comment Whale might have been about to make was interrupted by the arrival of Belle’s next contraction and shortly after the birth of a healthy baby boy.  
Rumple snuggled close to Belle and gazed in wonder at their son.

“What’s his name Belle?”

“Gideon.”

 

On the counter in the pawnshop a whole tea cup rattled to a halt, a final glimmer of golden magic glowed around it for an instant then faded away. In the world without magic there is a theory that time cannot be turned back, that a chipped cup cannot be made whole again. The blue and white cup with a hairline crack around a sizeable piece near its rim was proof that the world without magic doesn’t have all the answers. Happy endings are sometimes like a phoenix, they rise from broken things made whole by love.

**Author's Note:**

> Brain : What happened to the chip from the cup?
> 
> Me : Erm I don't know.
> 
> Brain : How about....
> 
> Several hours later, a fic is written.


End file.
